Dinner Tonight: Jeff Koehler's Moroccan Grilled Lamb Kefta Brochettes

I'm a huge fan of street food, especially when it's easy to prepare—though this isn't always the case, as often the best "fast" food takes a deceptive amount of cooking and preparation ahead of time. Yet these kefta brochettes, from Jeff Koehler's Morocco, come together in the time it takes the charcoal to ash over, and are deeply flavorful, relatively inexpensive way to eat lamb off the summer grill.

Why I Picked This Recipe: I've seen sausage-like brochettes in North African restaurants in the past, but I'd never attemped to make them. I like that it's essentially like making a hybrid meatball and sausage, but with no need for stuffing or casing—and more immediate results. The spice combination and the herbs were also intriguing: nutmeg, paprika, cinnamon, and cumin.

What Worked: The texture of these kefta were phenomenal, incredibly juicy. I'm pretty sure this has everything to do with the grated onion, which adds moisture and keeps the mixture from being too dense (while also adding flavor of its own).

What Didn't: Though I followed the recipe closely, I found that my mixture was a little bit too wet by the time I went to shape it on the skewers. This made grilling and turning the keftas difficult. Next time, I'd mix the meat and spices first, then add in just enough onion to moisten it.

Suggested Tweaks: A combination of beef and lamb would also work well.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Chicago, one of Blake's earliest food memories was a Chicago-style hot dog with all the toppings. It was the start of a beautiful friendship.

As a co-founder of The Paupered Chef And a Serious Eats Contributor since the beginning, Blake has been writing about food regularly since 2006. He currently contributes weekly to Dinner Tonight and writes the Chicago-based column Sausage City. He studied professional cookery at Kendall College in Chicago, and is creative director of Jamco Creative, an outfit in Chicago that specializes in social media marketing.

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